Carrier Reports Third Quarter 2021 Results

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla., Oct. 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Carrier Global Corporation (NYSE: CARR) today reported financial results for the third quarter of 2021 and updated its full year outlook. Carrier is the leading global provider of healthy, safe, sustainable and intelligent building and cold chain solutions. 

"We delivered a strong quarter driven by continued growth across our portfolio," said Carrier Chairman & CEO David Gitlin. "Our results demonstrate continued robust demand and reinforce our positive long-term outlook. Despite supply chain challenges impacting our input costs and factory output, our team has gone to great lengths to deliver superior products and solutions to our customers. We are helping to address critical societal needs, including climate change, indoor air quality, and the safe distribution of food and vaccines. Our future growth will be driven by our differentiated products and solutions, which are supported by secular tailwinds propelling our healthy, safe, sustainable and intelligent building and cold chain solutions."

Third Quarter 2021 Results

Carrier's third quarter sales of $5.3 billion were up 7% compared to the prior year and organic sales were up 4% over the same period. Sales strength continued in the HVAC segment, with strong light commercial and aftermarket sales performance offsetting the expected modest North American residential HVAC decline in the quarter.  Organic sales growth of 14% for the Refrigeration segment was driven by strong Transport refrigeration growth.  Fire and Security sales were up 2% organically driven by Fire and Security products growth.  All segments were impacted by cost and availability headwinds related to supply chain challenges. GAAP operating profit in the quarter of $828 million was down 23% from last year and adjusted operating profit of $858 million was down 1%.  These results reflect higher volume and price realization offset by increased supply chain costs and the absence of prior year cost containment activities related to the COVID-19 pandemic. GAAP operating profit comparisons were also impacted by the absence of a 2020 gain on the sale of Beijer shares held as an investment.

Net income was $469 million, and adjusted net income was $630 million. GAAP EPS of $0.53 and adjusted EPS of $0.71 included about a $0.05 benefit from a lower adjusted effective tax rate. Net cash flows provided by operating activities were $579 million and capital expenditures were $74 million, resulting in free cash flow of $505 million.

Updated Full-Year 2021 Outlook*

Carrier's updated outlook for 2021 is as follows including Chubb results:

*Note: When the company provides expectations for organic sales, adjusted operating profit, adjusted operating margin, adjusted effective tax rate, incremental margins/earnings conversion, adjusted EPS and free cash flow on a forward-looking basis, a reconciliation of the differences between the non-GAAP expectations and the corresponding GAAP measures generally is not available without unreasonable effort. See "Use and Definitions of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" below for additional information.

Conference Call

Carrier will host a webcast of its earnings conference call today, Thursday, October 28, 2021, at 8:30 a.m. ET. To access the webcast, visit the Events & Presentations section of the Carrier Investor Relations site at ir.carrier.com/news-and-events/events-and-presentations or to listen to the earnings call by phone, dial (877) 742-9091.   

About Carrier

As the leading global provider of healthy, safe, sustainable and intelligent building and cold chain solutions, Carrier Global Corporation is committed to making the world safer, sustainable and more comfortable for generations to come. From the beginning, we've led in inventing new technologies and entirely new industries. Today, we continue to lead because we have a world-class, diverse workforce that puts the customer at the center of everything we do.  For more information, visit www.corporate.carrier.com or follow Carrier on social media at @Carrier.

Cautionary Statement

This communication contains statements which, to the extent they are not statements of historical or present fact, constitute "forward-looking statements" under the securities laws. These forward-looking statements are intended to provide management's current expectations or plans for Carrier's future operating and financial performance, based on assumptions currently believed to be valid. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "believe," "expect," "expectations," "plans," "strategy," "prospects," "estimate," "project," "target," "anticipate," "will," "should," "see," "guidance," "outlook," "confident," "scenario" and other words of similar meaning in connection with a discussion of future operating or financial performance or the separation from United Technologies Corporation (the "Separation"), since renamed Raytheon Technologies Corporation. Forward-looking statements may include, among other things, statements relating to future sales, earnings, cash flow, results of operations, uses of cash, share repurchases, tax rates and other measures of financial performance or potential future plans, strategies or transactions of Carrier, the estimated costs associated with the Separation, Carrier's plans with respect to its indebtedness and other statements that are not historical facts. All forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. For additional information on identifying factors that may cause actual results to vary materially from those stated in forward-looking statements, see Carrier's reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K filed with or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and Carrier assumes no obligation to update or revise such statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

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SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA, NON-GAAP MEASURES AND DEFINITIONS

Following are tables that present selected financial data of Carrier Global Corporation ("Carrier"). Also included are reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to their most comparable GAAP measures.

Use and Definitions of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Carrier reports its financial results in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States ("GAAP").

We supplement the reporting of our financial information determined under GAAP with certain non-GAAP financial information.  The non-GAAP information presented provides investors with additional useful information, but should not be considered in isolation or as substitutes for the related GAAP measures.  Moreover, other companies may define non-GAAP measures differently, which limits the usefulness of these measures for comparisons with such other companies. We encourage investors to review our financial statements and publicly filed reports in their entirety and not to rely on any single financial measure. A reconciliation of the non-GAAP measures to the corresponding amounts prepared in accordance with GAAP appears in the tables attached to this release. The tables provide additional information as to the items and amounts that have been excluded from the adjusted measures.

Organic sales, adjusted operating profit, adjusted operating margin, incremental margins / earnings conversion, earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation and amortization ("EBITDA"), adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, adjusted earnings per share ("EPS"), the adjusted effective tax rate, and net debt are non-GAAP financial measures.

Organic sales represents consolidated net sales (a GAAP measure), excluding the impact of foreign currency translation, acquisitions and divestitures completed in the preceding twelve months and other significant items of a nonoperational nature (hereinafter referred to as "other significant items"). Adjusted operating profit represents operating profit (a GAAP measure), excluding restructuring costs and other significant items.  Adjusted operating margin represents adjusted operating profit as a percentage of net sales (a GAAP measure).  Incremental margins / earnings conversion represents the year-over-year change in adjusted operating profit divided by the year-over-year change in net sales.  EBITDA represents net income attributable to common shareholders (a GAAP measure), adjusted for interest income and expense, income tax expense, and depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA represents EBITDA, as calculated above, excluding non-service pension benefit, non-controlling interest in subsidiaries' earnings from operations, restructuring costs and other significant items.  Adjusted net income represents net income attributable to common shareowners (a GAAP measure), excluding restructuring costs and other significant items.  Adjusted EPS represents diluted earnings per share (a GAAP measure), excluding restructuring costs and other significant items. The adjusted effective tax rate represents the effective tax rate (a GAAP measure), excluding restructuring costs and other significant items.  Net debt represents long-term debt (a GAAP measure) less cash and cash equivalents.  For the business segments, when applicable, adjustments of operating profit and operating margins represent operating profit, excluding restructuring and other significant items. 

Free cash flow is a non-GAAP financial measure that represents net cash flows provided by operating activities (a GAAP measure) less capital expenditures.  Management believes free cash flow is a useful measure of liquidity and an additional basis for assessing Carrier's ability to fund its activities, including the financing of acquisitions, debt service, repurchases of Carrier's common stock and distribution of earnings to shareowners.

When we provide our expectations for organic sales, adjusted operating profit, adjusted operating margin, adjusted effective tax rate, incremental margins/earnings conversion, adjusted EPS and free cash flow on a forward-looking basis, a reconciliation of the differences between the non-GAAP expectations and the corresponding GAAP measures (expected net sales, operating profit, operating margin, effective tax rate, incremental operating margin, diluted EPS and net cash flows provided by operating activities) generally is not available without unreasonable effort due to potentially high variability, complexity and low visibility as to the items that would be excluded from the GAAP measure in the relevant future period, such as unusual gains and losses, the ultimate outcome of pending litigation, fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, the impact and timing of potential acquisitions and divestitures, future restructuring costs, and other structural changes or their probable significance.  The variability of the excluded items may have a significant, and potentially unpredictable, impact on our future GAAP results.